“You’re made of stone.”
Lucian didn’t have long to contemplatethatloaded statement before she added, “I’m getting out of the coach. I’llwalkhome.”
“The devil you will.”
But Gemma lunged for the door.
In her haste, she flew across his lap, and her gown stuck on his boot, stopping her flight. She sprang backward andlanded atop his lap, where she immediately began wriggling and fighting like a cat trapped in a burlap sack.
“Damn it, stop squirming,” he said, unintentionally becoming aroused by the feel of her on his lap.
“Let go of me then,” she replied, still struggling.
“I’m not holding you. Your gown is caught?—”
And just like that, the fabric tugged free. There was a horrible ripping noise, and Gemma ended up on the seat beside him with the back of her gown ripped and a sleeve hanging haphazardly off her shoulder.
She stared down at the mess, aghast. “Why…why…look what you’ve done? My gown is ruined.”
“Nothing the maids can’t fix, I’m certain.” He tugged at his cuff, desperately willing his cockstand to subside. What in the hell had caused it? It was unwanted. And unwelcome.
She continued pulling at her ruined sleeve. “That’s your answer to everything, isn’t it? Order a servant to fix it. Some things can’t be fixed,Your Grace.”
She narrowed her eyes on him. She clearly wasn’t talking about the gown any longer.
“Like what?” he ventured.
She hoisted her ripped sleeve and moved back to the opposite seat, where she stared out the window, ignoring him.
Heshouldhave left well enough alone. Heshouldhave kept his damn mouth shut and enjoyed the quiet on the ride back to the town house after she’d thankfully abandoned her idiotic plan to exit the conveyance. But instead, he found himself saying, “I find it ironic thatyou’reangry withme.”
Her nostrils flared. He could see that she wanted to say something. She wanted to, but she was warring with herself.
“WhenIam the one who should be angry,” he continued. It wasn’t like him to goad anyone into a fight, but there was something about the way she was trying not to say anything thatmade him want to push until she said whatever she was clearly thinking. And something about the way he’d become attracted to her so easily made him want to punish her.
“Oh, yes, because you have the moral high ground, don’t you?” She was kicking her foot beneath her skirts, the light-green satin fabric rising and falling with each kick.
His brows shot up. “I do, actually.”
“You are a pompous, arrogant blowhard who is under the mistaken impression that the world revolves around him. You think you have the right to punish me, but you haven’t even heard the whole story, and I’m certain you don’t even care because that might make you wrong. And how could a know-it-all ass like you ever be wrong? If you want to order your wife around like a piece of chattel, you’re welcome to try, but I’m here to tell you that I have no intention of taking orders from you now or ever. And if you don’t like it, you should send me away sooner rather than later because it’s not about to change.”
During her speech, Lucian hadtriedto interrupt her several times. But each time he opened his mouth to speak, he couldn’t get in a word. She wouldn’t stop. She’d clearly been pushed to the edge and had let the tide rip.
She was somewhat magnificent, he grudgingly admitted to himself, when she was on such a tangent. Her eyes were bright and fierce and compelling. Color had risen in her cheeks, giving her a warm glow. She was pointing her finger in the air, and she looked like an angry goddess who had descended from the heavens to wreak damage on the mortals who’d displeased her. In that moment, he did the only thing he could think of to get her to stop ranting. He reached across the space, pulled her sharply into his arms, and kissed her.
The moment his lips touched hers, Gemma shut up. She shut up and made a small gasping sound in the back of her throat. He’d intended to stop the moment she shut up, but the feel ofher soft lips on his did something to him. Something to his groin, specifically. His lips moved on hers forcefully, pushing open her mouth and invading the wet warmth inside. Another tiny gasp and she opened for him.That’s it. His mouth slanted over hers, his tongue possessive. And without thinking, he pulled her onto his lap, this time to grab her hips and hold her steady against him. To press her softness against his hardness. He heard himself groan.
The kiss turned wild. His mouth slanted across hers, and her fingers went up to thread through his hair. His hand moved down to push up her skirts and rest on her warm thigh through her shift. She seemed ravenous for him. How could that be? And he? He was equally ravenous for her. What the hell was happening to him? He didn’t even like her, but in that moment, he wanted to bury himself deep inside of her and thrust until she was moaning his name and they were both spent.
Thankfully, the coach pulled to a stop, shaking Lucian from the lust-induced haze that surrounded him. The last thing he wanted was for the footman to open the door and see him fondling his wife. He quickly pulled his mouth from Gemma’s, removed his hand from beneath her skirts, and set her on the seat beside him. She made anoofnoise and was staring straight ahead with a completely dazed look on her face, her lips swollen and her eyes as big as wagon wheels.
“Your Grace,” came the footman’s voice moments later as he opened the door and folded down the stairs. Clenching his jaw, closing his eyes, and willing his erection into nonexistence, Lucian counted to ten, cleared his throat, and then descended the steps before he turned back to help his wife out of the coach. Gemma came along, still looking as if she didn’t know where she was. And she didn’t say a word. He’d rendered her speechless. Interesting.
The moment her feet touched the ground, Lucian quickly whipped off his coat and covered Gemma’s shoulders to hide the ripped gown. Then he took her hand and led her across the graveled path to the steps up to the town house, where he helped her climb the stairs. She was silent the entire way.
Somehow, they made it up the stairs, into the house, and all the way up to the corridor beside their bedchambers where Lucian was able to hand Gemma off to her maid, who was waiting for her mistress.
Moments later, when the door to his own bedchamber closed behind him, Lucian leaned back against it, closed his eyes, and groaned. Damn it. What hadthatbeen about? That kiss had been explosive. Unlike any he could remember in recent memory. Hell, in former memory either.
